Google ponders Motorola's fate after acquisition

Now that it has been officially acquired by Internet giant Google Inc., three possible futures now await Motorola, a tech site reported Wednesday.

 

Google could choose to develop Motorola as a hardware company, take its patents then sell off its assets —or go somewhere in between, tech site Mashable said.

 

"Motorola holds many patents (more than 17,000) and some even serve as the basis for standard technologies in wireless communication. The main purpose of the acquisition was clearly to beef up Google’s relatively weak patent portfolio — a smart move, given the litigious nature of the tech world today," Mashable said.

 

But aside from the intellectual property, Google now also has a hardware company when it bought Motorola for $12.5 billion.

 

Google pulled off a surprise of sorts last August when it announced it was acquiring Motorola, the company behind the RAZR phone.

 

Larry Page, Google's CEO, had said Motorola will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Google, suggesting the company’s operations will "remain at arm’s length from Google proper."

 

"Since Android (and Google) are supposed to remain hardware neutral, this is cautiously good news for Motorola’s competitors," Mashable said.

 

On the other hand, Page said Google will replace Motorola’s CEO with a “longtime Googler” along with several key executives.

 

Hardware company

 

Mashable said the first option for Motorola under Google could be continued development as a hardware company.

 

It noted Motorola used to be a "buzz-worthy" brand, known for its groundbreaking and iconic RAZR and StarTAC phones.

 

But Mashable also pointed out owning Motorola complicates Google’s relationship with other Android manufacturers.

 

"Given the replacement of many top executives, you’d have to be tremendously naive to think Motorola now won’t have some kind of inside scoop on Android, even if the relationship is kept distant on paper," it said.

 

But Mashable cited rumors Google could mitigate this not by limiting Motorola but by giving several hardware makers preferential treatment.

 

"Google is said to be expanding its partnerships to give more manufacturers an early look at future versions of Android," Mashable said.

 

It also noted Motorola’s cable-box business as a potential gateway for its Google TV.

 

"Of course, what will really make that service sing is content partnerships, not fancy tech," it said.

 

Spinoff

 

A second direction may see Google just taking Motorola's patents and sell off Motorola’s hardware operations and other assets to the highest bidder.

 

But Mashable said this may also be a public-relations nightmare and a tremendously wasteful thing to do.

 

"While making hardware does appear to be strikingly against Google’s general philosophy ... a spinoff is unlikely. If that were the plan, Google could have just issued a press release noting the acquisition — there was no need for Page to write a personal note praising Motorola’s history of hardware innovation," it said.

 

'In between'

 

Mashable said a third possibility - an "ugly" one - is that Google may cripple Motorola because the two businesses together are "actually less than the sum of their parts."

 

If Google keeps Motorola separate or is treating all its hardware partners in the same way, Mashable asked, "what’s the point of owning it?"

 

Also, it said a corporate merger like this may send ripples throughout a company.

 

"Will Motorola engineers now be gun-shy about introducing phone features that might annoy its corporate parent? By the same token, will managers be too careful about tightly integrating some Google services to avoid accusations of collusion? And if Windows Phone eventually achieves significant market share, I think we can forget it ever showing up on a Motorola device," it said.

 

Ultimately, Mashable said good management can deal with some of those issues, yet pose questions about what kind of company Google wants to be.

 

"With good answers, Motorola could end up influencing Android for the better. A few years from now, today’s gung-ho note from Page may be looked back on as the seed of a brave new Motorola, which rose to new heights once it was under the Google umbrella," it said.

 

On the other hand, it said this could be like eBay buying Skype: "a confusing move, poorly executed, involving two companies that don’t really fit together."

 

"That would be a depressing outcome, but both sides should take heart: Those brands are still around today, and they’re more successful than ever," it said. — TJD, GMA News